New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-01-09
PRISONERS OF POVERTY.
WOMEN WAGE-wORKERS THEIR TRADES
AND THEIR LIVES
BY HELEN CAMPBELL.
XII.
ONE OF THE FUR-SEWERS.

hill In NewHampshire with the stones 80 thic'>
Ten miles of sto ne wall couldn't have uscd en-
up, and the steeple of the Methodist meethl
house the only thing in sight, maybe you'd nave
wanted to get where you could see folks TOO.
was just EllIins luck to have another hill Dc
tween us and the village SOFT couldn't see beyond
the woods between If there was contrary side
to anything it always fell to father and I'm some
like him, though Pve got mothers way OF never
knowing when Pm knocked fiat, though I've had
times enough to find out. But L said straight
through. if ever there's a chance OF getting 10
New York Ill take it. Boston won't do. want
the biggest an the stirringest thing there is In the
United States. and Leander felt just as dld
"Ieandcr lived down the valley way, and such
eobble- stones as hadn't como to our share had
come to his He'd laid wall from the time ne was
ten years old, and he'd sat on the hay an crled
FOR nure loncsomeness His folks weren't any
hands to talk and he couldn't have the salts
faction of meetin' Sundays, because they was
Seventh Day Baptists, and 50 set minister
couldn't get near 'em. And Leander was CON
scientious an thought he ought to stay by
didn't l told him from the time we wenb 10
school together that / was bound TO get 10 New
York. an that sort of fired him up, an we've
talked hours to time about what it was like, an
what we'd do if we ever got there My folks
he went after awhile with some man that was
up in the summer and that gave him place IN
a store couldn't 60 on account Of fathers dying
sudden an mothers holdn on harder'n ever TO
ma, but she was took within the year. an there
was free enough, an not q soul IN the wOrio
but Leander's folks that seemed to think much
one way or another how ] was likely to come
out.
"There was q mortgage on the farm, an Dr.
Grayson foreclosed an had most of the money for
his bill an when things were all settled had
forty dollars in cash and the old furniture.
Leander's folks was dreadful short for things lor
they'd been burned out once, an so l Just turned
everything to them but some small thlhes
could pack in my trunk, mothers teaspoons ana
SUCH and walked down to the village ana TOOK
the stage for Portsmouth. / wasn't scared
didn't care nor think how l looked. II was
heaven to think was on the way to folks ana
the THINGS folks do. amt given to crying. but
rnat dav sat back I'm the stage an cried Just
Tor JOY to think was going to have something
niferenb.
San this time I hadn't thought much what
I'd do Forty dollars seemed big lot enough
for weeks ahead. I'd done most everything about
q house, an could make everything wore.
had only to look at a pattern an could go
home an cut out one like ii. The dress had on
was cheap stuff, but when 1 looked at other
folks's saw it wasn't so much out o. the way
So said, most likely some dressmaker would
take me- an I'd try my luck that way. This was
before got to Boston, an / went round there ali
the afternoon before it was time to take The traih
for the conductor told me just what TO no. an
I hadn't mite of trouble never do going 10 q
strange place. I was half mind to stay In
Boston when saw tho Common and the crowds
thara AM ,tofv nnk ad a
I'M cried again for joy to think I'd got where
there were so many But there'll be more in
New.York.' said an thereIl be sure to be
plenty ready to do a good turn / could have
bugyed 'em all. l didn't think then the time
would ever come that I'd hate the sight OF faces
an wish myself on top Of the hill in the coDDic-
stones, but it did. an 1t does now sometimes.
81 went on board the boat that night sort OF
crazy. ia gone an got some sandwiches an
things at place the conductor told me an sal
ON the deck in the moonlight an ate my supper
I'd been too happy to eat before an l was so
happy then I could hardly keep still There was
q girl not far off, kind off nice-looking girl, an
she watched me- and at last she began TO talk.
In half an hour l knew all about her ana she
about me. She was Rhode Island girl and had
worked in mill near Providence, and gone TO
New.York at last and learned fursewing. She
! said it was q good trade and She made ten and
twelve dollars O week while the season lasted
and never less than five. This seemed a mint OF
money and when she said one of their old hands
had died and she could take me right in as hel
friend and teach me herself, felt as if my fortune
was made.
sWell. | went with her next day. She had {
room in Spring-st., near Hudson; an oldfasmonec
house that belonged TO two maiden sisters and
went in with her the first night, and alterwafC
for while had the hall bedroom. IL didn't tax
me long to learn. 1t was Jew place and there
were thirty girls, but he treated us well. Fol
nv part Pve Jared just as well with Jews as evel
did with Christians, an Sometimes better 10
taken to Hattie SO that couldn't bear TO think o.
leaving her, an so | let my dressmaking plan 20
But III tell you what found out in time. These
slxins are all dressed with arsenic. The dealers
RAY there's nothing poisonous about them, but Of
Dourse they lie. Every pet has more or less II
n and the girls show it just rs the artificial
flower girls show il. Your eyelids get red anC
the lids all puffy, an you're white as chalk. Thu
dealers say the red eyes come from the flynn
hairs Perhaps they do but the lids don't, an
every f,ir-scwer is poisoned little with every
prick of her needle What the flying hair does Ii
lust to get into your throat and nose ana every
where an tickle till you cough all the time, an
a girl with weak lungs hasn't chance. The al
is full of fur an then the wOrlIroom Is kept tlgii
shut for fear of moths getting in. The work IS
easy enough. It's Just an everlasting patchwork
for you're always sewing together little bits, hun
dreds of them that you have to match. You Sc"
over an over with linen thread. an you're Away
piecing out an altering shapes. It's nothing L
sew up a thing when you've once got II pieced TO
rether. If it's beaver all the long hairs must BE-
picl<ed out an it's the same with sealsk1n W.
made up everything; sable and Siberian squirrel,
bear fox, marten, mink, otter an all the rest
There were some girls very slow In learning thai
only got a dollar week and in the end, four, bu
most of them can average about five. l was sew
euteen when 1 began, and in a year had caugh
ali the knack there is to it an an expert Ger